Sunday, 10 April 2011

Market Row in Brixton was the lunchtime place to be for a while. This was down to Franco Manca, which got rave reviews from basically everyone. It even made it into newspapers that only use the words South London if they sit next to 'postcode wars'. Then came Rosie's (of the Spooning with Rosie cookbook) and Wild Caper. What makes it nice is that it sits next to the South American butchers and West Indian and African grocers that made the place interesting for a lot of foodies anyway. Now it's Brixton Village's turn. This is a very similar covered market that sits just opposite Market Row. A series of rebuilds and an influx of new restaurants, cafes and delis again sit next to places that have been there for years. I want to take longer to explore it, but to kick it off I thought I'd talk about a small pasta place in there called Bellantoni's.

This place has recently taken over another room opposite its original location, but it's still small. It's made up of simple tables and a simpler menu comprising about five things written up on a board. Two of these were pasta dishes when I went, both priced at £5. I chose macaroni with red cabbage. This was good. The pasta was nice and crisp from the oven and had a brilliant flavour in itself. Good quality parmesan and olive oil gave it a nice fattiness. The little bit of tomato sauce slightly masked the flavour of the cabbage, but this was a really good hearty lunch. I will definitely go back. Especially as good pasta is not that easy to find in London at a reasonable price. Good fresh, homemade raviolli can easily cost over £6 or £7 a pack in Borough market of a Soho deli, so to find quality like this at such a good price was fantastic.

After that I spent around an hour exploring the different cafes and places I wanted to eat, so watch this space for a few more reviews. The Brixton food scene is getting better and better all the time and the markets are definitely a big part of that. Any suggestions nearby would be great.